1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to sports training devices and in particular to a target for safely developing accuracy and technique when an object such as a baseball is delivered to the target at a high speed, while having the object rebound without concern for injury to the player.
2. Background of Related Art
There exists a variety of targeting devices useful in various sports for improving ball throwing, kicking or hitting accuracy. It appears however that few such devices can be safely used at close range, especially in sports such as baseball, where ball speeds may exceed 90 miles per hour.
Training devices using pitching strings are well known and include horizontal and vertical strings in combination defining a strike zone as is described in The Baseball Handbook for Coaches and Players by Jim Depel, published in 1991 by Collier Books or as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,467 issued on Apr. 4, 1967 to B. D. Dawson for a Baseball Pitcher's Practice Device. As described in the Dawson '467 disclosure, the strike zone is a vertical, rectangular area of a given width and adjustable height normally defined by the distance between the knees and shoulders of a baseball player at bat. The Dawson invention was formed by an elastic cord material wherein the ends of the horizontally extending upper and lower cords looped about upright frame members so that they could be moved in a vertical direction along the upright members to vary the overall height of the strike zone. The rectangular area defined by the cords was flexible so that a baseball striking a cord would push the cord to one side without appreciably deflecting the baseball. Vibration of the cord indicated that it was hit by the baseball. Tubular members provided a basic rectangular frame to which the elastic cords were attached.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,158 issued on Dec. 14, 1976 to H. B. Britton, a strike zone target is formed from two vertical chains spaced wider than home plate and two horizontal chains with a hook at each end, which hooks are adapted to be removably fastened at different heights to the vertical chains for drawing these vertical chains together to define the strike zone area. Britton '158 describes the target as being fastened to a wall or other structure but preferably attached to a frame which is erected in a suitable place and provided with attachments for batting practice. Britton further teaches that the target is preferably mounted in front of a back stop, usually vertical, which causes the return of the ball after it has passed the target. Britton further states that a pitched ball is considered a strike if any part of it passes over home plate which is seventeen inches wide and therefore, the strike zone will normally be somewhat more than seventeen inches wide, for example about twenty-two inches wide, so that if any part of the pitched ball passes over home plate it will enter the strike zone without touching either of the vertical chains. If the ball hits a chain that defines the strike zone, the chain vibrates and it is clear that the thrown ball is not a strike. Further, by the distance the ball rebounds from concrete or brick back stops, and less easily with a back stop that is not so hard, it can be readily determined whether a fast ball or slow ball has been thrown because of the distance the ball rebounds after the hitting the back stop. The vertical chains are held by hooks maintained taut by springs.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,126,102, issued to R. A. Fowler on Aug. 9, 1938, a baseball pitching target comprising a rigid frame suspends a target having an aperture defining an area equivalent to a strike zone. The target is made of flexible chain covered with yieldable rubber tubing and is made taut by tightening turn buckles affixed between the target and the frame. The rectangular target is further divided into open areas to subdivide these strike zones for use in practicing various pitches well known in the sport.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,166 issued on Sep. 5, 1989 to S. J. Becera et al. discloses a throwing target for arresting the flight of a ball. The target comprises a frame for defining a vertical plane with a top rail spaced apart from a bottom rail, first and second linkages coupled between the top rail and the bottom rail and traversally adjustable relative to each other and to the frame. A deformable band is releasably coupled to the first and second linkages for expanding and contracting to form a plurality of rectangular target regions having a variety of selectable cross sectional areas and positioned relative to the frame depending in part upon the relative position of the first and second linkages and in part upon the location along the first and second linkages at which the deformable band is releasably coupled. A ball pouch is coupled to, and substantially rearward of, the deformable band for arresting the flight of balls thrown through the deformable band, wherein balls thrown on target are captured in the ball pouch and segregated from balls thrown off target.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,996 issued on Mar. 6, 1990, D. P. Tallent et al. discloses a ball and target net game apparatus wherein a target net includes a perimeter frame work securing a generally planar net wherein the frame work includes a plurality of forwardly extending horizontal legs and associated bracing to maintain the netting in a secure arrangement during use. The framework and the legs of the apparatus are telescoping to effect a compact structure easily stored when not in use. An entering net is securely secured to spaced elongated straps longitudinally secured relative to the main net portion of the apparatus to provide a target in variable orientation relative to the main net.
Although the art appears to have a number of target devices, the needs identified for targets used in professional sports especially have not been satisfied. In particular, with baseball pitching speeds reaching and exceeding 100 miles an hour, a tremendous amount of energy is being delivered to the target. If the strike zone is missed, the target and the baseball can be damaged especially after many hits by the ball. In addition, there is a constant threat that a rebounding ball will be reflected back at the player possibly causing injury and certainly causing a distraction so as to take away from an effective skills training session. Further, since practice sessions are often held indoors or in close quarters, the need for a low rebounding sports target is easily appreciated.
Safe close range use requires controlled rebound from all possible impact points on the device being used. Devices disclosed in the art fail to provide the structural elements to control rebound. Typical targets comprise rigidly mounted support frame members with exposed portions of the frame structure supporting the target elements, in movably mounted rigid elements subject to impact by the oncoming ball, target or frame elements constructed of normally flexible and yielding materials such as rope, cable, or chain where such flexibility is nullified by having the materials restrained at both ends, or targets that are attached to a preexisting structure such as a wall where such structure is exposed and receives the oncoming ball.
It would therefore be desirable to have a sports target which can be easily and safely used at close range. Such a device would be useful where space is a consideration or where specific types of use or drills are a benefit at such close ranges. Other benefits derived would include improved visibility and ball collection. The sports target of the referenced application was developed to satisfy these needs.
A multi-shuttered target trainer as described in the referenced application meets the requirements for safe, close range use since all exposed impact surfaces consist of freely suspended flexible sheets of rubber. However, although multiple target zones were presented in various embodiments of the target trainer, the number of zones was limited since the shutters create areas of exclusion. Such exclusion areas repelled, stopped, or rebounded incoming balls to a safe location. Such exclusion areas did not provide narrow exclusion borders or boundaries lines which only alter a ball's trajectory when directly impacted by the ball. A hanging section of chain, by way of example, constitutes a border, while a piece of plywood or rubber sheet constitutes the exclusion area. Although both provide features useful in training, a target employing multiple border elements as opposed to multiple shutter elements provides the user with a finer and more flexible delineation of target areas while being less complex and expensive to construct as well as simpler to operate. The fine delineation of bordering regions as supported by the description in the referenced patents given by way of example, provide valuable measurements in any training device. Further, the smaller the ball, the smaller the defining borders must be in order for the user to distinguish exact impact locations especially at high incoming speeds. For example, an effective border width of twice a ball's diameter is of little use to the user when placement variations of one ball diameter or less are critical in a game. A half inch is often the difference between a strike and a ball in the game of baseball. The phrase "effective border width" is used to provide an improved definition of a border as used in various target devices. The term border could have several meanings: a border can be a line on a flat surface; it can be a distinct element such as a section of chain or bar; or any combination. Painted lines are adequate for some sports such as darts or arrows but when rebounding occurs they are less helpful to the observer than physically distinct borders which provide locational information by changing the trajectory of the ball within a narrow band.
It is for this reason, for example, that cloth banners with target markings are usually less than satisfactory targets for most users. Finally, a further advantage of the narrow border marker lies in the fact that objects missing the border or grazing it can pass through the target plane on either side of the border. This can be a big advantage when the targeting device includes collection means and storage of balls which successfully pass through the target plane as earlier described. Based on this, the multi-shuttered, low rebound sports target apparatus described in the above-referenced application can be improved by providing low rebound multiple border elements to replace the low rebound shutters. Such a device has been successfully designed and tested and represent the teachings of the present invention.
Various problems had to be solved in the development of the present invention. The teachings of the above-referenced copending application were beneficial in developing a low rebound sports target as is described in the accompanying sections of this specification.